I start with an editorial note: With this weekend’s Ordination of Mary Catherine White there are two Roman Catholic women Priests in New Hampshire. The first ordained Roman Catholic woman priest in New Hampshire is The Rev. Theresa Novak Chabot of Manchester, ordained in 2010 by Roman Catholic Women Priests-USA, a group that began in the USA after the first Ordinations of women in the USA in 2006. It now also has members residing outside of the USA. The Association of Roman Catholic Women Priests was formed in October of 2010. There are over 200 women priests world-wide. The vast majority of these reside in the United States (contrary to the information in the article below). Europe, Canada,Colombia, South America and South Africa are among the locations of other Roman Catholic Women Priests and candidates are currently from many different countries. The RCWP Movement is bursting forth and is hardly “fairly isolated” as stated by a theology professor in the article below.

Rev. Dr. Judy Lee,RCWP

The first New Hampshire woman Priest, ordained in 2010 is The Rev. Theresa Novak Chabot of Manchester who is mentioned in the NHPR Article below. This is her biography:

Theresa Novak ChabotOrdained:
Deacon 2009
Priest 2010

Theresa Novak Chabot holds a Master of Arts in Theology (Pastoral Ministry/Spirituality) from St. Michael’s College in Colchester, Vermont. After several years of serving in a variety of parish ministries, Theresa answered the call to priesthood to minister to those who are disillusioned with the Church but still long to be fed spiritually. She serves the Church of the Holy Spirit, a Catholic Welcoming Community of Hope, in Manchester, New Hampshire, with weekly liturgies and the sacraments in addition to a wedding ministry. Her hope lies in a Church where diversity is celebrated and all are welcome at the Eucharistic table in the loving spirit of Jesus Christ. Theresa was formerly the Director of Development for NH Catholic Charities, the executive director of a chamber of commerce, and has worked in fundraising, public relations, and development for non-profits and businesses. In addition to her ministry, she is a speech-language pathologist for a public school district. She and her husband, Gary, reside in Manchester, NH. She can be reached at tnovakchabot@comcast.net

A radical event took place Saturday in a most traditional setting: a tiny, white, classic New England church in Shelburne. Mary Catherine White was ordained and now considers herself a Roman Catholic priest.

With about three dozen – sometimes tearful and proudly independent friends and relatives watching – White became one of just over 200 ordained women worldwide who say they are Roman Catholic priests. The Vatican says they are not priests because priests have always been – and must always be – men.

But the Association of Roman Catholic Women Priests – which ordained White – says there is evidence – such as paintings – that show some women priests and bishops in the early church. And, they say, the Bible has Jesus treating men and women equally.

“Jesus treated women as spiritual equals,” said Bishop Bridget Mary Meehan of the Association of Roman Catholic Women Priests, who presided. “It is time for the institutional church to go back to its roots and do the same.

“The Association of Roman Catholic Women Priests is not leaving the church, but leading the Catholic Church into a new era of justice and equality. No punishment, including excommunication, can stop this movement of the spirit.”

The Diocese of Manchester declined to allow anyone to be interviewed.

But a written statement said the church does not recognize ordinations such as White’s as valid and the priesthood “has always been reserved to men in fidelity to Christ’s example and to apostolic practice since the time of Christ.”

The statement also said “while it is unlikely” formal excommunication proceedings will be started White is “choosing to leave the church and put herself outside its communion.”

White says she would not recognize excommunication anyway.
CREDIT CHRIS JENSEN FOR NHPR
White, 54, grew up watching men as priests and she’s dreamed of becoming one of those priests for decades.

“I felt called my whole life to priesthood, but it was not something that was allowed,” she said.
So, she got involved in other ways.

“I have done numerous roles within the Roman Catholic Church over the years, everything from director of religious education. I worked for a period at Catholic Charities up in Berlin. Pretty much any role that the official church allowed me to do I did, in addition to things like spiritual direction and so forth.”
But being a priest didn’t seem possible, and that struck White as terribly wrong.

“I think it is more than a civil rights issue. It is a justice issue. It is an issue that says ‘God created everyone equal. In my heart I know it was supposed to be different.”
But White, who is married and has two children, didn’t want to leave the Roman Catholic Church for another religion that would allow her that role.

“I am Roman Catholic inside and out. It is how I relate to and understand God.”
Then in 2012 the impossible suddenly seemed possible for White.

That’s when she heard about “The Danube Seven.” They were seven women who – ten years earlier – were ordained. Five became priests. Two became bishops.

It took place on a boat on the Danube – between Austria and Germany – and was carried out by a bishop supposedly in good standing with the Vatican – but a bishop who has chosen to remain anonymous.

Hearing about the Danube Seven was all White needed.

“When I saw that was possible, I knew that was my answer.”
The Danube Seven also prompted the formation of the Association of Roman Catholic Women Priests, of which Mary White became its forty-first priest.

While The Vatican says women cannot be priests, White says the Bible refutes that assertion.

“I think the one scripture that I would say, more than anything, is Galatians. And, it basically said ‘In Christ there is neither Jew nor Greek, male nor female, slave or free.’ That is a very clear depiction of what Jesus taught us.”
White won’t be accepted by The Vatican but she plans to hold services, including communion, in homes. And, she says, her faith community will be “all-inclusive and non-judgmental” including welcoming the LGBT community and those who are divorced.
CREDIT CHRIS JENSEN FOR NHPR
That receptivity is true of all women priests, says Bishop Meehan.

‘Women priests are living Jesus’ vision of God’s full partnership and providing hope for a renewed church in the 21st century, where everyone is welcome and everyone belongs and everyone can receive Sacrament.”
New Hampshire’s second woman priest is Theresa Novak Chabot of Manchester, who also holds services in homes. She was ordained in 2010 by a different group, Roman Catholic Women Priests.

Novak Chabot said her ordination ended a long period of yearning.

“I spent many years wondering, frustrated, a lot of tears were shed. It would be so difficult to go to Mass and watch the men at the altar and know that the only reason that I could not be there was because I was a woman.
Every Catholic woman, I feel, should have the opportunity at least once in her life to see a woman at the altar because it is something that is totally taboo in the Roman Catholic tradition that it gives people hope.”
White and Novak Chabot are among about 200 women worldwide who consider themselves to be Roman Catholic priests. They were ordained by either the Roman Catholic Women Priests or the Association of Roman Catholic Women Priests.

There are about 100 in the United States.

And there are five in Massachusetts, two in New Hampshire and one in Connecticut.

A spokeswoman for the association said the movement is “flourishing” and is aiming at millions of Catholics who left the church over issues such as gender equality, divorce and LGBT.

However, there is no sign that the Vatican is likely to change its position on women priests anytime soon.

And the movement is still “fairly isolated,” said Thomas Groome, a professor of theology and religious education at Boston College.

But White and Novak Chabot figure they’ve at least started on what they see as the long journey to equality.

I am sharing here two world views of Pope Francis’ masterful Encyclical on the environment Laudato Si.

The First is from America/Media a Jesuit Ministry, and the second is from the BBC. I want to highlight the importance of Pope Francis’ connection between global poverty and global greed. The teachings of Jesus are very clear that neither of these should exist. The moral teachings of almost all religions and humanists are in agreement on this, along with the command to love your neighbor as yourself. . Let us challenge ourselves to find the ways in which each of us becomes complicit with greed and the toleration and propagation of poverty in America, for sure, and most importantly throughout the world. I am ashamed of the US politicians who call themselves Christian and Catholic and can so glibly and easily criticize and negate this most important moral teaching. This smacks of courting the “Conservative” vote and nothing more. The dishonesty of such politicians certainly propagates greed and selfish interest. No wonder so many feel that politicians cannot be trusted as they pitch their comments to self interest after self interest. In the words of the prophet Amos, “Let justice run down like waters and righteousness like a mighty stream”. Let us pray we can learn to conserve water and earth and people’s lives and not political power and money, finally.

Eight Ingredients of the First Third World Encyclical

“Pope Francis blesses a boy in the Varginha slum in Rio de Janeiro July 25, during his weeklong visit to Brazil for World Youth Day. (CNS photo/Paul Haring) (July 25, 2013)

One of the many history-making features of “Laudato Si'” is that it is the first encyclical fully conceived and completed by a non-European. (Pope Francis’ previous encylical, Lumen Fidei, was largely written by his predecessor, Pope Benedict XVI.) What difference does this make?

It comes from a Third World pope.As Jorge Bergoglio, Pope Francis’ life and ministry were marked by global capitalism and authoritarian communism fighting for control over his native Argentina. He saw firsthand how both ideologies left the poor in misery. Argentina suffered crippling economic crises as it attempted to play by the rules that richer countries put in place. This encyclical speaks from that history. It was initially drafted by Cardinal Peter Turkson of Ghana, making it a landmark testament to the world from Catholics of the Global South.

It transcends Cold War binaries. Although some commentators have labeled Pope Francis a communist, what he offers is a refreshing departure from the ideological boxes that plague the rich world’s discourse. He opposes an economy based on short-term corporate profits while embracing the creativity and productivity that markets encourage. He stresses the divide between haves and have-nots, but calls for dialogue rather than class struggle. Above all, he opposes the idolatry of any ideology that puts itself before the well-being of human beings and creation.

It foregrounds the experience of the poor. Both the environmental movement and its opponents often seem to be purusing a theoretical and boutique cause, reserved for the wealthy and highly educated. Pope Francis frames his teaching with the perspective of the world’s poor, for whom the climate crisis is not a future possibility but a present reality. He identifies the “ecological debt” that the rich owe to the poor for the effects of their relentless consumerism.

It places the commons over property. “God rejects every claim to absolute ownership,” Pope Francis writes. While the world’s rich justify their pollution on the basis of property rights, Catholic tradition upholds private property only as long as it fosters stewardship for the common good. The world is first of all God’s gift to everyone, and property cannot be used to withhold the necessities of life from the many for the enrichment of the few. “The climate is a common good,” he reminds us, “belonging to all and meant for all.”

It says what is unsayable in U.S. politics. The climate crisis has been virtually a non-issue in Washington, thanks largely to the influence of the energy lobby. “Laudato Si'” breaks this silence, and it calls public officials to step away from the sidelines. It doesn’t offer particular policy proposals so much as it invites everyone into a common dialogue. It also gives voice to the concerns of Latino Catholics, who are far more concerned about the environment than their white counterparts, but who have often gone unheard.

It takes both Catholic tradition and science seriously. However radical this document may seem, it falls squarely in the mainstream of both the scientific community and Catholic tradition. Much of what Pope Francis says here has been said or alluded to by previous popes, and he cites his predecessors going back to Paul VI in the preface. Regarding scientific claims, he respects the authority of scientists who speak from their expertise and takes it for granted that Catholic faith must be consistent with the deliverances of reason.

It speaks of relationship rather than dominion. Knowing that biblical passages can be used to justify a narrative of human “dominion” over nature, Pope Francis shows that those same passages, and many others, call us to relationship above all. He outlines an “integral ecology,” one centered on the sanctity of human life, while recognizing that human flourishing depends on the flourishing of the environment of which we are a part. Like the African concept of ubuntu, he sees the dignity of humanity expressed in our relationships—to our Source, to each other and to creation.

It insists that we can make a difference. This is the first encyclical addressed not just to bishops, or to Catholics, or even to “all people of good will,” but to “every person living on this planet.” Pope Francis does this for a reason. He concludes that we can rely solely on neither the state, nor an invisible hand of the market, nor the wonders of technology can solve the climate crisis for us. He calls on each of us to recognize our own sins against creation, and to repent, and to reorient our lives toward a healthier kind of relationship. This means not choosing one form of consumerism over another, but directing our resources toward a different kind of economy altogether—one based not on short-term profits but on long-term flourishing. We’ll disagree about how to do this. And it is not a temporary matter of somehow saving the world and then being done. This encyclical will be a lasting part of Catholic teaching, and it calls us—now and always, wherever we are in the world—to deepen our relationship with our crucified planet.”

The UN’s climate change chief Christiana Figueres says the Pope’s message will influence talks in Paris this year on a deal to tackle global warming.

Developing countries are demanding firmer promises of financial help from rich countries so they can adapt to inevitable changes in the climate and get clean energy to avoid contributing to further warming.

Ms Figueres said their position would be strengthened by the Pope’s insistence that this was the clear moral responsibility of the rich.

The encyclical will be welcomed by poor countries in Africa and Latin America.

The big question is how it will play in the USA, where it has already been dismissed by a Republican presidential candidate Jeb Bush, who is a Catholic.

Leading Republicans have warned the UN that they will undo President Barack Obama’s climate policies – so if the encyclical sways any of the conservative Catholics in Congress that could prove significant.

Today is a major turning point. Pope Francis’ encyclical is more than a theological statement, it is a major awakening for the world of the deep moral urgency of the climate crisis. The science is settled, our moral need to act is clear – now let’s come together and build the world we need.

You don’t have to be profoundly theist to appreciate this papal encyclical; you only need eyes that see, a mind that thinks and be graced with an empathetic conscience toward human beings and their environment.

When an elderly Pope Leo XIII released a document in 1891 on the rights of workers to unionize and of owners to hold private property, European capitalists and socialists alike cried foul. Why should we listen, they fumed, to a pope’s pronouncements on economics and politics?

Once again industrialists, politicians and critics are fuming, contending that the pope should stick to religion and stop meddling in matters in which he has no competence.

“Pope Francis’ message on global warming was a confusing distraction that dilutes his great moral authority and leadership at a time when it is desperately needed to combat real — and present — crises in the Church and in Western culture,” said Richard A. Viguerie, who pioneered the use of direct-mail fund-raising to help build the political and religious right.

But Francis is following in the footsteps of popes and bishops who, for generations, have written documents on pressing social problems by applying religious teaching to events so contemporary that they seem ripped from their eras’ headlines.

Pope Leo’s encyclical “On the Condition of Labor” — or “Rerum Novarum” in Latin — became the seminal document in what is now recognized as modern Catholic social teaching.

Yet there have been many since then. Pope John XXIII warned of nuclear annihilation in “Pacem in Terris,” in 1963. Paul VI challenged wealthy nations to help develop poor nations in “Populorum Progressio,” in 1967. Benedict XVI noted economic inequality from globalization in “Caritas in Veritate,” in 2009.

Still, Francis’ encyclical, contends Austen Ivereigh, a papal biographer in England, “is the most significant Catholic social encyclical since the very first, ‘Rerum Novarum,’ in 1891, and it’s very much within that tradition.”

What distinguishes “Laudato Si’ ” from previous church documents on the environmental crisis, Mr. Ivereigh added, is that it is intended to provoke action — to cause an enormous “conversion” in how humans understand their place and responsibility to a planet that is in peril.

“We all know this is happening; the church has been talking about it for a long time,” Mr. Ivereigh said, paraphrasing Francis on environmental destruction. “Yet we do nothing.”

In “Praise Be to You” Francis puts forward a profoundly theological document, grounded in Catholic teaching, but one in which spiritual and secular matters are knit so closely together that the table of contents promising to segregate them into sections is a bit deceptive.

Throughout the paper, like a recurring chant, Francis intones that everyone and everything is interconnected — to God, to creation, to fellow human beings.

The encyclical repeatedly invokes phrases like “brother sun, sister moon, brother river and mother earth.” Praise for “our Sister, Mother Earth” comes from the Canticle “Laudato Si’ ” by St. Francis of Assisi, for which the encyclical is named.

“As believers, we do not look at the world from without but from within, conscious of the bonds with which the Father has linked us to all beings.”

But just when he begins to sound spiritually cosmic, Francis adds a pinch of science: “A good part of our genetic code is shared by many living beings.”

Francis seems intent on showing that the concern about the environment is not his alone.

For at least three decades, bishops’ conferences and popes have spoken out on environmental problems. Francis’ encyclical is studded with quotations and footnotes from the statements of bishops in countries like Australia, Brazil, Canada, the Dominican Republic, Japan, the Philippines and the United States on the impact of climate change or environmental crises.

For some of Francis’ most contentious arguments — about an economic system that exacerbates inequality and causes environmental degradation — he cites the words of his predecessors, especially St. John Paul II and Benedict XVI.

He attributes the environmental crisis to wealthier, industrialized countries that extract resources to feed an insatiable desire for consumer goods. Christians also, he said, have been seduced by this consumerism, despite the tradition of monasticism and teachings on simplicity by St. Francis and others.

“Christian spirituality proposes an alternative understanding of the quality of life, and encourages a prophetic and contemplative lifestyle, one capable of deep enjoyment free of the obsession with consumption,” Francis writes. “We need to take up an ancient lesson, found in different religious traditions and also in the Bible. It is the conviction that ‘less is more.’ ”

Early in the encyclical, the pope spells out his intent for all humanity to undergo a spiritual transformation: “Our goal is not to amass information or to satisfy curiosity, but rather to become painfully aware, to dare to turn what is happening to the world into our own personal suffering and thus to discover what each of us can do about it.”

He says that the Bible’s reference to human beings having “dominion” over the earth has been misread by some Christians as giving license to humans to plunder its resources without respect for other living organisms.

The readings for Sunday are powerful. They are powerful in affirming and giving us a glimpse of the awesome yet maternal and parental God that gave birth to the cosmos and all of creation and is with us still, especially in the times of greatest storm and upheaval.

We note that in the reading from Job (1:8-11) God is speaking to the despondent and hopeless Job, a man who has lost everyone and everything dear to him and suffered physical and environmental plagues as well and yet holds on to faith by his whitened finger tips. God is describing the creation of the cosmos and earth by a tremendous maternal effort in these verses and later in the chapter includes a paternal side as well (fathering the drops of dew, vs.28, and maternal again, giving birth to ice and frost (vs. 29). God tells Job how the sea was birthed-burst forth from the womb of God (vs.8), and carefully laid into the swaddling clothes of the clouds/darkness (vs.9). God here is a mother giving birth after explosive labor-bursting forth- and also a parent who places limits on its offspring (vs.10). This same God who brought a universe into being is the one who is there for and with Job in all of his pain and suffering. And that is what will reignite Job’s faith and well-being.

In the Gospel (Mark 4: 35-41) we are reminded that there are times in life when we have nothing to hold onto at all, when we are at sea in a small boat in the midst of a terrible, violent storm, when it seems like even God is asleep. And yet we learn, God is perhaps not at the helm of the boat, but is in the boat with us. And when we remember that God is there, God speaks to us, and to the storm itself, and there is calm.

The writer of Mark wrote in the first century, in the sixties, after the death and resurrection of Jesus and the bursting forth of the church in the midst of persecution. One of Mark’s strong themes involved the strength, freedom and continuity of the church community at a time of storm. Thirty years after the death of Jesus the Roman Empire carried out a mass persecution of the young Christian churches. The lead apostles and many others were killed. Yet the Gospel spread and the church remained strong especially among the poor. Baptism was an act of faith and courage in which believers died with Christ and rose again with Christ and lived reflecting the indwelling of Christ, with an amazing forgiveness, inclusiveness, and mercy. The reign of God is so near that it is within-within the church and within each Christ-follower. The Aramaic for reign of God “malkutha di elaha” denotes an intimate and immediate relationship with God. Hence, though Jesus was asleep in Mark 4:38, (and indeed had died) he, the Christ, has risen and is very much alive and in the boat with the church and the disciples.

I have been thinking about the storms of life when we seem to be overwhelmed and without control. At this moment one of Good Shepherd’s strongest supporters is fighting for his life in a local hospital. Admitted to the hospital Saturday in great abdominal pain, and sustaining an operation, Jack McNally a married priest, who, in his eighties, faithfully serves our feeding ministry( and has done so for seven years) along with his devoted wife Ellen was revived from a “Code Blue” this morning after his heart stopped beating. Ellen describes his smiling at the medical staff and telling them he is fine. And she asks for prayers. The storm is still raging but Jack and Ellen hold on to the one who is in the boat with them, and we join them in prayer.

Within the last few months one of our faithful families became the victims of drive-by shootings. The windows of a parked truck were blown out first. Then on another occasion bullets literally whizzed by the heads of the young people and children present. One young man can’t stop hearing the sound and it makes him feel as if he were already dead. And all we could do given the specifics of the situation, was pray. We prayed with the family members in ones and twos and as a family and we prayed together as a church. Then, it happened. They were able to move out of the area to another community giving them a start at peace of mind and safety. Jesus was in the boat and despite their fears of moving, almost as great as the fear of the shootings, they held on. They now begin a new chapter of their lives.

There are so many examples. Many of our young people are successful and seem to sail on in their studies and careers despite some challenges. Racism and classism are still alive and well in Florida, as in most places. But, one of our young women tried and tried and faced defeat in her studies. She was despondent. She felt her boat was going down. She just about gave up. But she prayed and like Job, she held on. She responded to the belief we had in her abilities against all odds. She is about to start a new program where she has a good chance at a trade and a career.

Today we learned of the horrifying massacre that happened last night in a South Carolina church while the Pastor led a Bible Study. Here, in the Mother Emmanuel AME Zion Church, a historic black church where Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. came to visit, speak and pray, a probably mentally ill 21 year old white man filled with hate for black people pulled out a gun and shot nine people. The dead included the Pastor, Clementa Pinckney , also a State Senator and a brilliant rising star and activist for justice, and eight other faithful souls ranging from 26-87 years of age. How horrific. To think this has happened in the sanctity and safety of a church. Dr. King said after the loss of the four little girls in a church on that fateful Sunday in Birmingham, Alabama, that God can draw good out of such tragedies. And eventually the good of civil and human rights did come. Yet, oh the immediate pain. In the face of tragedy and unspeakable loss, this church community holds on, praying together and asking for prayer and forgiveness. What a sign that God is in the boat with them.

This is a request for prayer that was sent to me from PICO (People Improving Communities through Organizing) National Network, and you may respond with your prayers using the link:

“We are heartsick this morning as we take in the news of the mass shooting at “Mother Emmanuel” African Methodist Episcopal (AME) Church in Charleston, SC. Once again, we are reminded of the power of fear and hatred that devastates our communities.

AND HERE IS A PRAYER FROM BROTHER JAMES PATRICK HALL and the pictures of the martyred saints of SC:

1 Thessalonians 4:13-14
But we do not want you to be uninformed, brothers and sisters, about those who have died, so that you may not grieve as others do who have no hope. For since we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so, through Jesus, God will bring with him those who have died.

With this plea for prayer and faith, for the strength of Christ and the love of God to be with this community in the midst of their horrific storm, I close this homily. The forces of hatred and injustice are strong, the waves could capsize the church, and all of our little boats. But they will not. God is in the boat with us. God in loving relationship is right there with us. Mother/ Father God is not letting us go it alone. Ever. And, we live with the hope given us in 2 Corinthians 5:14-17 “Anyone who is in Christ is a new creation. The old order has passed away; now everything is new!” God is still in the boat with us. Amen.

For fourteen children and young people of our Good Shepherd Inclusive Catholic Community, summer fun and learning began last Friday at the Shell Factory Zoo and Nature Park after lunch at McDonalds. They were accompanied by the two Pastors Judy Beaumont and Judy Lee, Roman Catholic women priests, and Linda Maybin, parent Assistant. Efe Cudjoe, our youth minister and Natasha Terrell her assistant guided and kept the group together as they explored animals and their habitats and birds in a walk-in Aviary. Later they enjoyed an inside Arcade and had snow cones. The Bumper boat rides were closed as the water level was not high enough to keep them afloat so the snow cones helped to cool them off.

Here group members enjoy an ancient Fire Truck that they were able to climb on and other exhibits of life long ago before entering the zoo.

They loved feeding the turtles and Koi that practically jumped out of the water to get the food.

Watching the land turtles eat salad and feeding the baby goats captivated them.

The giant tortoises, lizards, and peacocks were a big hit. The peacocks had a particular scream that the kids imitated causing quite a bit of interest from the birds.

Watching the Zebra, a huge camel and a giant cow held interest for quite a while.

And then there were the birds! The cockatoos were the biggest hit as they would sit on an arm or shoulder and eat out of a hand. At first the kids were terrified of them, then slowly each one fed them and hosted them as we modeled how to hold them. Soon the older kids were teaching the younger ones the joys of feeding birds.

At the end of the day, there were peals of laughter as the kids saw themselves elongated and foreshortened in the Carnival mirrors in the Arcade area. Competence at the Arcade games also brought great joy and even a few rewards.

We are so thankful for the generosity of our donors who make this summer fun and learning possible. When we think about what many of these kids went through this year their laughter and joy is all the more precious. They are now deciding where their second trip will be. We will keep you posted!

Here is an insightful homily on the meaning of the parable about the mustard seed (Mark 4: 26-34) by Rev. Dr. Beverly Bingle of Toledo, Ohio. She challenges us to be part of the reign of God, growing and taking hold like weeds and yet challenges us to think what is happening when the reign of God seems not to be growing?

As she notes the first parable about the seeds springing up while we sleep challenges us to think just what are we doing to help the seeds of God’s reign to take hold and grow? Do we sow, or water, or tend the growing plants? What does God do, and what do we do? Indeed if we are asleep, God is doing most of the work. And yet there is a role for each of us in growing the reign of justice, compassion and love in our troubled world. Megan McKenna On Your Mark (p.60) asks “are we helping with watering, nurturing, harvesting? Or are we, indeed, being harvested? Do we belong to a community that produces enough wheat to feed others? ….Where are those who lay down their lives,falling under the sickle so to speak, so others can eat? ” This theme connects to our homily on Corpus Christi, the Body and Blood of Christ last Sunday. Are we willing to give all to building the kin-dom ,the reign, of God? If, as in the last sentence of this Gospel Jesus is still speaking privately to his disciples, how are we doing at listening? How attentive are we to reading and grappling with the meaning of the Word? How do we pray, share with God in relationship, what our concerns for the kin-dom are, for the weeds of us and the birds that seek shelter in the shade of the tree/large bush that the community offers for shelter? How do we actually share the heart of Christ as members of the Body? How, indeed do we show our compassion for the people and for the earth that God has given us? How are we attending to the word of God thrown out into the world?

In Luke 17: 5-10 and Matthew 17:20 Jesus speaks of the necessity of having faith in order to get the work of the reign of God done. Yet, he points out: even an infinitesimal amount of faith (the size of a tiny mustard seed) will do. Walter Wink, Prayer and the Powers points out thatwe do not have to be spiritual giants , most of us surely are not, but we do have to do what Jesus has asked us to do (in loving our God and really loving and serving our neighbors as ourselves) (Luke 17: 9-10), “Faith”, Wink says, “is not a feeling or a capacity we conjure up, but trusting God can act decisively in the world” (PP.14-15). And when we consider that the socioeconomicpolitical systemic snares faced by those who are poor and different are amazingly powerful, we cannot blame ourselves or God if prayers do not seem to be answered. For example, if homelessness and hunger and violence prevail even in the most affluent of countries as well as the poorest even as we do our best to address the issues where we are. We can ,ourselves, continue to believe in the power of God and work with God on making dents in those temporal forces that work against the fullness of life, dignity and worth of every human being.

Recently I have been discouraged about how hard the work of the kin-dom is in poor communities that continue to experience the long arm of racism and classism down the generations. I have been discouraged by gun violence especially among young people and the death of children and others who have nothing to do with gangs or drugs or “beefs”. And, I have been discouraged by the strength of addictions and the lack of resources to shelter the homeless and teach empowerment skills. But, due to the kindness of friends I have begun to realize that God’s work is the reign of justice, I have a part in it, but I do not have to do it all, nor can I. That realization comes with a renewal of my faith in God to get the job done and to raise up laborers for the vineyard, yes, for the garden full of weeds, that is here. Jesus said in Matthew 17: 19-20, that the lack of faith is what prevented the disciples from healing the boy who had awful seizures. Faith enables andsustains our work for the reign of God. Without tending our own faith through prayer(even when it is the very groaning of our spirits) and relying on God, it atrophies even smaller than that mustard seed and the works of God’s reign are then impossible to do. Two problems then may happen: first, we may feel that we ourselves have to do it all. We forget that it is not us but God that is speaking the kin-dom, the reign of God, of justice and love, into being. We then burn out and despair since we cannot make the miracles happen that change violence, neglect, abuse and pain in God’s children and our good green earth, at times struggling to breathe. Or, we pull back to an inactivity that pretending to be prayerful instead centers us on ourselves instead of on building the reign of God with God. Here is Walter Wink’s prayer that may empower us to truly have faith and to pray and act with every fiber of our beings to build the reign of God with God. “God, help me to refuse ever to accept evil; by your spirit empower me to work for change precisely where and how you call me; and free me from thinking I have to do everything”.

Today’s gospel has two seed parables,
the seed that sprouts and grows and ripens on its own,
and the tiny seed that grows into a large plant.
The first comparison is one that Jesus probably used
but, according to scripture scholars,
he would not have used it to talk about the reign of God.
That part comes from Mark,
who used it to contrast how little we contribute to the harvest
compared with what God contributes.
The second comparison, the parable of the mustard seed,
was one Jesus would have used,
and he would have used it to talk about the reign of God.
__________________________________________
The parable of the mustard seed
is in the canonical gospels of Mark, Matthew, and Luke
as well as the sayings gospel of Thomas.
The version of the parable closest to what Jesus would have said
is this straightforward and unadorned passage
in the Gospel of Thomas:
The disciples said to Jesus,
“Tell us what Heaven’s imperial rule is like.”
He said to them, “It’s like a mustard seed,
the smallest of all seeds,
but when it falls on prepared soil,
it produces a large plant
and becomes a shelter for birds of the sky.”
According to scripture scholar Raymond Brown,
that’s very close to the original idea of the parable
as Jesus would have told it.
____________________________________________
Five of us from Tree Toledo are taking a tree stewardship course,
and we keep hearing about invasive plants.
We’ve learned about invasive trees, like Autumn Olive,
#3 on the Ohio Department of Natural Resource’s top ten list. And
we’ve learned about invasive plants, like Garlic Mustard,
#7 on the list.
When American cooks hear the parable of the mustard seed,
they think of those round yellow spices
and know it’s definitely not the smallest of seeds.
When Ohio farmers and gardeners hear the parable,
they think of a weed run rampant through their crops,
their neat flower beds, and the rows of their vegetable gardens.
For them, Jesus is saying that the reign of God is everywhere,
and nothing can be done to contain it.
_________________________________________________
Even if you’re not a cook or a gardener or a farmer,
you know about dandelions.
You don’t have to plant them.
They grow everywhere.
When Jesus told this story to the people of Galilee,
they would have known that he was using hyperbole—
exaggeration to make a point.
And they would have been surprised
to hear God’s domain compared to a tiny seed,
even if not the smallest.
They also would have known
that a mustard seed does not grow into a tree.
Sure, it’s a big plant, three to five feet high, but not a tree.
They would have picked up on the fact
that Jesus was poking fun at the mighty cedar of Lebanon
and the apocalyptic tree of Daniel that reaches to heaven,
with its branches that cover the earth.
And they also would have picked up on the weed and its seed
as representing the poor,
the despised tax collectors, and the sinners—
invasive pests in the ordered garden of society
where the predatory birds attack and devour them.
And his audience would have chuckled at the comparison
and gone home uplifted and inspired,
understanding that, as Jesus told them,
the reign of God is here, among you.
You—the outcasts, the bottom of society,
the outsiders at the Temple—
you really are God’s people, chosen and beloved.
_________________________________________
Now, what about us, as we hear this gospel?
If the reign of God spreads as easily as mustard or dandelions,
what is it that we’re doing, or not doing,
that keeps God’s presence from ruling our world?
What kind of poisons are we spreading
that inhibit the growth of God’s reign?
When I examine my own conscience,
I see easily that my actions and inactions
contribute to the greatest moral issue of our time—
pollution of the earth
to the point that our very life as a species is seriously harmed.
Sure I live frugally, and recycle,
and don’t use drive-through windows,
and turn off the lights when I leave a room.
But I leave a great big carbon footprint
from the fossil fuels I use
to heat my home and drive my car
and mow my lawn and cook my meals—
a footprint way bigger than my fair share on this planet,
cutting off life right now
in impoverished communities around the globe,
and in the future for all of humanity—our great-grandchildren.
_____________________________________
This coming Thursday Pope Francis will promulgate
his encyclical on the environment, Laudato Sii—Praised Be!
Even before it’s released, it’s drawing anger and condemnation
from those who profit most
from the degradation of our environment.
But I’m hoping that it will be a prophetic call
heard by all of us, Catholics and everybody else,
to care for creation.
The Toledo Chapter of the Association of U.S. Catholic Priests
has put together a series of meetings,
every other week for five weeks,
to look at the encyclical and discuss it,
starting at Lourdes University this Thursday.
I’ll be there.
I want to hear what others have to say,
and I want to think about it seriously,
and I want to find out what I can do.
_________________________________________Today Jesus is telling us the same thing
that he told those folks
who gathered around him at the lake that day.
Each one of us is a dandelion in the lawn, mustard in the field.
One person, yes,
but God’s reign is here among us,
and we spread its seeds
by the way we live.
Just like Jesus.

This article from Francis De Bernardo of Newwaysministryblog shares the story of the fate and courage of a Ugandan Roman Catholic Priest,Fr. Anthony Musaala who ministered to the GLBT community and, documenting violence against gays, calls for a world wide “sexual refugee” program. It also makes a plea to Pope Francis to lead the church and the world in Christ-like acceptance of the dignity of all human beings. The World Meeting of Families in Philadelphia in September would be the ideal place to speak the Gospel truth of God’s love for all people.

Ugandan Catholic Priest Calls for a Worldwide “Sexual Refugee” Program

by Newwaysministryblog

A Ugandan Catholic priest who has been barred from celebrating the sacraments is calling for a worldwide refugee program for LGBT people fleeing discrimination and violence in their home countries, as he witnesses hundreds of such Ugandan individuals fleeing across the border to Kenya.

Father Anthony Musaala, a priest from the Ugandan capital of Kampala, was speaking at an LGBT ministry forum at All Saints Catholic Parish, Syracuse, New York. A Religion News Service story published on The Christian Century website said Musaala spoke of rapes, evictions, beatings, and job losses for people because of their sexual orientation, gender identity, or because they support LGBT people.

Musaala called the exiles “sexual refugees,” and said he recently met with United Nations officials to discuss ways to support those who flee their countries. For Ugandans who go to Kenya, life is not that much better, Musaala observed. One reason is that Kenya already is housing 650,000 refugees from other African nations, but another reason is the Ugandans’ LGBT status. The priest noted:

“When their status is revealed, the police are quite brutal.”

Unfortunately, Musaala’s work is not supported by his archdiocese. The news report explained a bit of his background and experience with church officials:

“He was ordained in 1994 in the Archdiocese of Kampala and began ministering to gay and lesbian and people in 1999. His archbishop considered that work ‘not in step with the church,’ Musaala said.

“In March 2013, Musaala wrote a paper challenging priestly celibacy and criticizing African priests who abuse minors or father children and abandon them. His archbishop, Cyprian Lwanga, said the paper ‘damages the good morals of the Catholic believers and faults the church’s teaching.’ He suspended Musaala indefinitely from priestly duties, which means the priest cannot celebrate the sacraments. . . .

“Musaala now works with Ark Communes, which creates safe housing communities for LGBT people in Kenya, and he used his talk as an occasion to ask for donations for the organization.”

The record of Catholic officials in Africa supporting anti-LGBT legislation in Africa is shameful. While there have been a few who have spoken up courageously to defend human rights, the great number are often on the side of repressive lawmakers.

“Much blame has been placed on the shoulders of conservative American evangelicals, but U.S. Roman Catholic right-wing groups are equally guilty of exporting homophobia and sexism to Africa. This was illustrated in February 2015, when Roman Catholic Bishop Emmanuel Badejo of the Diocese of Oyo in Nigeria claimed that Nigeria’s failure to rescue the kidnapped girls (the Chibok girls taken by the Islamist group Boko Haram) was due to lack of support from the Obama administration, resulting from its opposition to an anti-LGBTI law passed in Nigeria in 2014. While the media cited Bishop Badejo for this statement, the claim was originally made by a U.S. conservative: Rep. Steve Stockman, who in August 2014argued, ‘We have information that would help the Nigerian military take back their country and get back those girls. The mistake on our side—the United States’ side—is that we have laws preventing us from sharing that information with the Nigerian military. And one of the reasons is that we don’t like some of the social policy of the Nigerian government.’

“The passage of Nigeria’s 2014 anti-LGBTQI law, which applies a 14-year jail sentence for same-sex marriages and prohibits advocacy of sexual minorities’ rights, was celebrated by Nigerian Roman Catholic Bishops. The bishops commended the government for its ‘courageous and wise decision’ to fight ‘the conspiracy of the developed world to make our country and continent the dumping ground for the promotion of all immoral practices that have continued to debase the purpose of God for man in the area of creation and morality, in their own countries.’ Archbishop Ignatius Kaigama went as far as saying ‘thank God that this bill was passed.’ The failure of the Vatican to oppose or counter such statements implies approval; its hide-and-seek game essentially sanctions the persecution of sexual minorities in Africa and other parts of the world.”

Kaoma has called on Pope Francis to use his platform at the upcoming World Meeting of Families in Philadelphia in September to speak out for the human rights of LGBT people. Kaoma stated:

“As the World Meeting of Families draws near in Philadelphia, human rights advocates anxiously await a public statement from Pope Francis on human sexuality. If the event centers on the definition of ‘family values’ promoted by U.S. Roman Catholic and evangelical conservatives, then the Pope’s visit will further sanction the demonization, scapegoating, and persecution of LGBTQI individuals around the world. U.S. conservatives—from lesser-known characters like Matt McLaughlin and Scott Lively to big name leaders like Franklin Graham and Rick Warren—are awaiting the Pope’s visit to advance their global anti-human rights agenda.

“The Pope’s upcoming visit to the U.S. provides another opportunity for the advancement of human rights for all people. The persecution, violence, and trauma caused by religiously sanctioned homophobia demands a statement from Pope Francis on LGBTQI rights. His words have the potential to either sanction continuous violence, rape, criminalization, persecution, and killings—or bring long-awaited and desperately needed acceptance of sexual minorities across the globe.”

New Ways Ministry has been calling on the pope to speak out on human rights abuses against LGBT people for a while now. Perhaps it is time that we revive our#PopeSpeakOut campaign where we asked people to tweet to Pope Francis messages which ask him to speak out against repressive and discriminatory laws. Find out more by clicking here. Please send a tweet today!

Finally, many thanks to All Saints Catholic Church for hosting Fr. Musaala’s talk. Their example shows how important it is to have LGBT ministries in Catholic parishes. New Ways Ministry is proud to include them on our gay-friendly parish list.